Improved water-wheel



UNITED STATES PATENT UEEICE.

JOHN J. KIMBALL, OF NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVED WATER-WHEEL.

antedatcd April 15, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOHN J. KIMBALL, of Naperville, in the county of DuPage and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and lmproved Water-Wheel;and I do hereby declare that the following is full, clear, and exactdescription of the saine, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure lis avertical section of my invention, taken in the line x x, Fig. 2; Fig. 2,a horizontal section ofthe same, taken in line y y, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, anenlarged horizontal section of the wheel, taken in the line zz, Fig. l.

imilar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention relates to certain improve ments in that class ofwater-wheels which are placed on vertical shafts, and are commonlytermed horizontal water-wheels.

Theinvention consists in a novel construction of the wheel, the samebeing provided with two sets ofbuckets, one set hein g straight andhaving a radial position in the wheel, and the other set being curved,and using in connection with the wheel thus constructed a scrollpeculiarly arranged and a gate operated in a novel way, as hereinafterfully set forth, whereby it is believed that several advantages areobtained over the ordinary horizontal wheels in use.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the scroll of the wheel, which gradually decreases in widthfrom its outer end or orifice to its inner end, and which completelyencircles the wheel I3, as shown in Fig. 2. The wheel B is quite smallin dianr eter, compared with the width and capacity of the scroll, somuch so as to admit of the wheel being encompassed by a considerablevolume of water. The wheel B is provided with two sets of buckets, a b,the lower set, a, being straight, having a radial position, andextending upward about one half the height of the wheel, the other set,b, being curved and placed directly over the straight radial buckets a.This will be fully understood by referring to Fig. 3, in which thestraight radial buckets a are indicated by dotted lines, and

the curved buckets indicated in blue tint. The lower buckets, a, aretted within the scroll A, the buckets b being above it, as shown inFig. 1. The shaft C has its lower end stepped in a bridgetree, D,underneath the scroll A, and the upper end of said shaft has its bearingin a cross-bar, c, of a framing, E.

F represents the gate of the Wheel, which is of cylindrical form andencompasses the upper part of the wheel above the scroll A. This gatehas three rods, d, attached to it near the shaft C, and these rodsextend up through aplate, G, attached to the shaft C, and are eachconnected at their upper ends to a cord or chain, e. These cords e passaround pulleysff, the pulleys fbeing in the plate G, and the pulleys fbeing in a similar plate, H, attached to the shaft C some distance abovethe plate G. The cords e are attached to a plate, I, which is allowed toslide freely on shaft O, and has three rods, g, attached to it, whichare fitted in grooves in the shaft (l, and are connected at their upperends to a hub, h, which is screwed into the lower end of a collar, J,which serves as an oil-cup and rests on a shoulder or boss, i, at thelower part ot' a rod, K, the latter passing through cross-bars j j j inthe training E, and having its lower pirt, k, square, to prevent itsturning in the framing E, and its upper part has a screw, l, cut uponit, on which a nut, m, is fitted. The lower end of the rod K is made ofpointed or conical form, and is fitted in the hub h, as shown at u inFig. l.

The operation is as follows The water enters the scroll A, and actsagainst the buckets a, spending its direct force upon said buckets, andit then reacts against the buckets b in the upper part of the wheel, andpasses oft' uninterruptedly over the top of the scroll A. By thisarrangement the wheel is operated under the full and entire head ofwaterfor the lower half. The buckets a are inclosed against the surroundingtail-water, and when the tail or back water is just to the height of thelower edges of the upper buckets, b, then the wheel has `just the fullhead of the water, and it the wheel be set lower into the tail-water itin effect neither gains nor loses head, for the back-water in that casewould be compensated for by the increased head 5 and hence, to preventfreezing,

the wheel and scroll may be set tO any desired depth in the tail-wateror tail-race. The wheel, it will be seen, will give out power inproportion Only to the amount of water discharged through the upperbuckets, b, and hence the advantage of the gate F, the whole power ofthe wheel .being under its control, and always giving power inproportion to the amount of water discharged, and when workiugunder muchback-water enough more headwater may be used to compensate for thedifference in the effective head, and when there is no back-water, andthe head is full, a less amount of water will yield the desired power 5hence, aiso, the wheel may be used to drive more or less machinery, andwhen a Variable power is required-may be readily managed and controlledthrough the medium of the gate F, when the wheel is in motion.

The gate F, arranged as shown and described, causes by its own weightthe hub h to bear against the point or lower end of the rod K, and asthe rod K is stepped in the collar or Oil-cup J the former will alwaysbe kept properly lubricated, and by turning the nut m' the rod K iscarried up or down, and with it the colla-r or oil-cup J, connectingrodsd, and gate F. It' the cords or chains e and pulleys ff were notemployed and arranged as shown, and the rods d attached directly to thehub h, the shoulder or boss 'i on rod K would sustain the whole weightOt' the gate, and it would soon be worn away, and it' only the upper setof pulleys, f', were used, they would carry the gate upward, but notback, but with the two sets of pulleysj'f, arranged as shown, with thecords or chains c, rods d, plate I, and rods g the gate will be carriedboth up and down.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The wheel B, provided with two sets ot' buckets, d Z1, the former, a,being straight and at the lower part of the wheel, and having a radialposition, and the buckets b being curved and directly over the bucketsa, in connection with the scroll A, extending upward so as to inclosethe lower buckets, a, ot

the wheel, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. Operating the cylindrical gate F through the medium of the rods d,plates G H, pulleys fj', cords or chains e, plate I, rods g, collar oroil-cup J, and the rod K and nut m, or their equivalents, all arrangedas set forth.

JOHN J. KIMBALL,

Witnesses:

W. M. SIMMONS, J AMES SIMMONS, JOHN Pownns.

